


Hello I Like Your Coat

by CravenWyvern



Category: Fran Bow (Video Game), Little Nightmares (Video Game)
Genre: Chance Meeting, Duotine Effects, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-11-21 10:43:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11355834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CravenWyvern/pseuds/CravenWyvern





	Hello I Like Your Coat

“Oh hello!”

The yellow figure stopped rocking, looking up slowly and blinking at the intruder, who stared wide eyed back from the old gray doorway.

Rain thundered above them, the old abandoned building shivering under the onslaught, water leaking ever so slowly from cracks in the ceiling, yet Six’s raincoat kept her from the worst of it, plinking with sound as drops landed on her hood. She stayed silent, hands curled over scuffed knees pulled to her chest and back pressed against the wall, watching through her tangled bangs as the girl walked right into her desolate room.

Six watched as the girl glanced around, barely giving her any mind as she hummed a little tune, poking through the trash piles. For a moment the shadows flickered, a thrum of power that withered under Six’s coat and over her skin, but she was not hungry. The shades died down and all was silent besides the thick rain that pounded down from far above.

Then the girl turned and looked at her, dress marked and stained with dirt and all manner of things, large eyes staring at her. She tilted her head, thin brown hair brushing over her face as she gazed unblinkingly at the yellow cloaked figure in the corner. Before Six could decide if she should bolt the girl had plopped herself down before her, knees under her as she looked at Six curiously, almost unnervingly. 

Six stared into the girls blue eyes, pupils blown wide and dark, and she couldn't help but lean back against the wall, curling her hands close to her chest as something heavy stuck in her throat, a shiver at the intrusion and quick movement near her space.

“You're so small! Small and fragile, and I really like your coat! Yellow is a good color!”

The girl leaned forward, almost intent in seeing Six’s face hidden in her tangled black hair, and she blinked slowly, gaze unwavering and still. For a moment her mouth was a thin line, tense and narrow, and then a small smile broke over her thin face.

“My names Fran! What's yours?”

Interaction was not Sixs forte, something she has not engaged in such a long time, and instead she froze, staring at the girl, only a few inches taller than her but much more fleshed out even in her thin frame and sallow face, sunken eyes still locked onto her hidden face.

For a moment there was no sound, no movement, patience for an answer as Fran waited, and then she sat up, out of Sixs space. Her head moved about, scanning the small room, dilated pupils tracking things that not even Six could see, and she talked as she looked around the room over and over, barely looking at Six again.

“It's alright if you don't want to tell me. Lots of people don't want to tell me their names; names are powerful, after all, and knowing everyone's name can be dangerous I'm sure.”

Fran did not stand up, instead seeming to finish looking about the dull room and curling her legs under her, crisscrossed. Six looked at her; not her face now, not the unnerving energy behind it, but at her feet, her worn shoes and dirty mucked up dress and thin arms, how she shivered ever so slightly, goosebumps raised over her skin. Six was sure she could outrun this girl if she had to. 

It looked like it would be easy.

“But it would be polite if you did. I did, after all, and it's just manners, to introduce yourself to someone else.”

Fran looked back at the yellow cloaked girl, barely noticing her thin, smaller stature, the dirtiness on her coat not at all just mud and dirt.

But those colors were just the same as the stains on the walls, the same as the stuff leaking out of the man in the corner. He seemed to be asleep, one of those adult sleeping things wrapped around and around and around his head. Fran didn't think he'd bee very happy when he woke up; his arms were gone, and he'd be soaked in all that blood! He should really keep track of them, and not sleep in such a messy area, but she didn't think she should wake him up. 

After all, sleeping was very important to stay healthy! She once slept three days, so she should know!

There were lots of other things in the room, red limp things, and she felt sad that there was a rat among them. She knew to not try and bother it though, having met other rats before that were still and not asleep like it. Maybe they were all related and had odd family traditions?

“But even if you don't want to be nice and polite I do have to ask you something. You're the only one I've seen for awhile now and this old forest is just so big and full of things that are not very helpful!”

Fran tilted her head, mouth a thin line once more.

“I'm looking for my kitty, Mr. Midnight. He's my little kitten, and he said he was in the forest, and if I took my medicine I'd find him, and I've escaped the awful place that I didn't like at all and I went through a maze with a bunch of scary night things and I followed the metal Mr. Midnight but I can't for some reason find my real kitty!”

The rising tone of voice shook Six from her frozen trance and she skittered away suddenly, hands on the wall behind her and dragging against the old plaster. Her heart was starting to pound dizzyingly in her chest, and she kept her gaze locked on the girl, who had bent her head down, hands curled into fists in her dirty skirt. The girl didn't seem to notice her movement for a moment, breathing a little loudly and deeply as if to calm herself, and when she raised her head she looked about in confusion before seeing Sixs crouched, frozen form.

“Oh, I'm sorry if I got a little too loud.”

The girl raised her hands and scrubbed her face for a moment, mouth a sharp curve down as she wiped stray tears away.

All Fran wanted was Mr. Midnight, and her mom and dad, and Aunt Grace. But some of what she wanted was impossible to get back, so instead she had to make do with what she still could find. Mr. Midnight was out here somewhere, she could feel it, she just knew, and once she found him she'd go to Aunt Grace’s house and they'd be happy again, if a little emptier.

But Fran though she could do that. With Mr. Midnight at her side, she could do anything.

But he wasn't, not yet anyway, so she just had to find him.

And it was so much harder than she had thought it would be.

“I just want to find Mr. Midnight. Do you know where he is? Did he tell you where he was going?”

Six stilled, heart still thrumming hard in her chest, the rain patter outside still going strong. She had little clue on what was being said to her, words jumbled messes of loud, alarming sounds, and the sudden scare made her skittish, made her feel the need to hide, hide away, far away from this wide eyed girl and her unnerving stares.

For a moment she almost bolted away, to find a better hiding place, a better spot to wait out the rain, to wait for her hunger to come back, but the girl sniffled again, wiped her nose with the back of her hand.

“It's okay if you don't know. Everyone I've met doesn't know where my sweet kitty is.”

Six blinked slowly, watched as the girl pulled her legs up, curling into a posture familiar to Six. She's seen so many take the form, rock ever so slightly in mock comfort, and her imitation of it had gotten more and more frequent the more she hid away in dark places.

Something stirred in her memory, in her chest, of someone else, of many someone else's, and Six took a step forward, hesitant, wavering. When the girl did not react, only buried her head against her knees, thin scraggy hair sweeping over the sides of her face, Six took a few more steps, closer and closer, until she stood next to the girls curled form.

Then she slid down, knees pulled up to her chest in imitation, hooded head tilted to look at the girl who was only ever so slightly bigger than her. For a moment there was only the rain, and then Sixs broken, cracked voice, barely above a whisper, slipped from her throat.

“M’names Six.”

The girl didn't respond for a moment, and then she lifted her head, looked at the yellow cloaked girl next to her. Fran rested her cheek against her boney knees, thin brown hair draped over her forehead and nose, and breathed a sigh through her nose.

“Hello Six.”

For a moment there was comfortable silence, Six slowly relaxing, shoulders untensing, and then Fran raised her head suddenly, gazing at Six with those wide, blown open pupils, the blue almost entirely consumed by black.

“You're name's kinda weird. Why is it a number?”

Six felt confused, must have somehow looked it, the skittish fear crawling back into her spine, but then the girl smiled, something small and tiny, fragile on her sallow face.

“That's okay if you named yourself you know. I guess not all moms know good names.”

The confusion just got stronger, but Fran seemed to be satisfied.

Fran herself liked the answer she got. She had never thought about changing names before, not before the yellow cloaked girl had told her, though she worried about how she had been crying so strongly when she said that, hair cut away from her face and too many eyes pocket marking her face. Six wasn't crying anymore though, her hair back in place, so Fran chalked it up to the medicine. Sometimes it showed her things she'd never have known if she just asked.

That was the only thing good about it though, that and how it was helping her find Mr. Midnight. Fran didn't think she liked all the icky blood and gross body pieces that were in the rooms sometimes.

Almost automatically Fran glanced around, checking the room again. Sometimes things changed, and sometimes they were big changes, and sometimes they helped her in finding her kitty. She had to be attentive to these changes.

Fortunately she did not have to check around much for changes, since the room itself had changed completely. The sleeping man must have woken up, since he was gone now; maybe he was looking for his missing arms?

“If I ever lost my arms I'd be looking for them too.”

Six scrambled back as the girl stood up, head turning and eyes darting around and around again, as if to see something new. Nothing was different, only trash and slowly growing puddles of water, and yet the girl seemed to be seeing a lot of things, wandering here and there.

Six stood up, a shiver of the cold creeping under her coat, and then froze as the girl twirled around and locked gazes with her.

A moment of silence, and then the girls eyes twitched upwards, just above Sixs right shoulder, and her face twisted a little, a downwards frown.

“Why does it whisper so much?”

Six was on the brink of running again, frozen stiff as the girl circled her, eyes staring at something else.

Maybe that was what scared Six even more; something was here that she couldn't see, and she never liked not seeing things.

“Well that's rude. You're mean, I think, and you should leave Six alone!”

The rise in volume made Six jump, skitter back into a wall on instinct, and Fran snapped her gaze back to her as she moved. Realization dawned slowly and then her frown lessened into something a little more apologetic.

“Oh, I'm sorry Six. Sometimes you have to yell at them, the shadows. Sometimes it makes them go away.”

Fran turned in a circle, looking around once more. She hadn't liked that shadow at all, how hungry it seemed, how bloated it was. She's never seen such a fat one before, and it was saying such nasty things about Six!

She was glad she was able to send it away. She hoped it felt ashamed.

“Well, I don't see anymore of…”

Fran’s voice puttered out, her eyelids suddenly growing heavy and she wavered, wobbled for a moment, and then she felt the world turn dizzy and sideways for a moment, the feeling so familiar and yet just so strikingly wrong-

But it wasn't a hard shock that caught her, not dirt or mud or stone. When Fran blinked open her eyes, blinking dizzyingly for a moment, small hands were pressing against her arm and shoulder, a straining figure trying so hard to hold her up.

She moved slow, felt something heavy settle in her limbs, and the red tinge was fading away, the stains regular old brown and black on the walls. The things on hooks that had been above her were gone now, and so was the red puddle and not sleeping rat.

Once her balance was caught, a hand on her head because everything still felt a little off balance, Six stayed near her side for a moment longer, hands held up uncertainly, and then the yellow cloaked girl backed away.

“Oh goodness, thank you Six.”

The girl twitched, looked up through her black hair that covered her face thickly, and Fran smiled thinly.

“Sometimes that happens, especially when my medicine is done. I might have slept for a long while if you hadn't caught me!”

Fran looked about the gray, trashed room slowly, the puddles of cold water growing ever so slowly, suddenly very exhausted.

“Would it be okay if I stayed in your room for awhile? I want to find Mr. Midnight really quickly, but I think I need to take a break or I might fall outside! Then I'd get wet.”

Six didn't respond, but she hesitantly back away from Fran and then sat down, right in a pile of old ragged cloths. Some of it looked wet, but Six didn't look uncomfortable, so Fran stumbled over to her and then slid down, back scraping against the plaster wall.

The cloths were indeed wet, but Fran felt ever so tired. Things were not moving around anymore, but she felt much heavier than she originally had.

She hoped she didn't sleep for another three days. She still needed to find Mr. Midnight after all!

With her eyes closed, knowing Six was curled up next to her, in that same position she had been in when Fran had wandered into the room, Fran sighed sleepily.

“Good night Six.”

The rain above them continued on strongly, slow leaks through the roof, and Six listened to the girls breathing even out slowly, resting limply against the wall and on the sodden clothing.

Six was glad she was not hungry.


End file.
